Book Nerds Across America

In person, Raven Hall is even grander than she'd imagined--even with damage from a fire decades before--but the walls seem to have eyes. As day turns to night, Sadie starts to feel that there's something off about the glamorous guests who arrive, and as the party begins, it becomes chillingly apparent their unseen host is playing games with everyone...including her.

TEE'S REVIEW:

If you are a lover of gothic fiction you will enjoy the new book The Perfect Guest by Emma Rous which is a modern take on the genre.  Raven Hall, an aging manor home that has been in the family for generations has loomed heavily over the story, and that alone gives it the gothic feel. 

The book centers around two main POVs that scan different times, Beth who is in 1988, an orphan who has been chosen to come to Raven Hall to be a companion to Nina, a girl her age who is kept in confine to the grounds of the manor by her mother. Beth gets pulled into a strange game of dressing up and posing as Nina, by Nina’s parents when her grandfather comes to visit. Nina is sick each time he visits, and Beth seems to think she is being poisoned.

Sadie is the second POV and is based in the year 2019, she is invited to Raven Hall to be a performer at a murder mystery weekend at the manor home. But soon enough one of the performers shows up missing. 

There is also an occasional third POV that neither the name nor the time is known, but it seems to be also somewhere in the past. 

The book is suspenseful, complex, and complicated, and I didn't always know where the story was going or even when it would end up, but I kept reading anxiously to find out the secrets of each of the main characters. There are also several secondary characters in the story, and it is sometimes confusing trying to keep up with them all.  

The book is split into two parts, the second part is shorter and ties everything up, but not before a few twists and turns that finally reveal who the characters are and what their secrets are. I did find a few of the twists at the end to be a bit far fetched, but the book was an enjoyable and easy read.

The Perfect Guest is a thrilling mystery that will keep you guessing until the end, but it is also a family drama that deals with obsession and risking everything to be able to keep what you really love. 

I love the romance genre…everything about it. Yes, some are sappy and fluffy, but I need that in my life, and yes, I do watch Hallmark…sue me.  I especially love Rom-Coms. Long ago when Confessions of A Shopaholic came out I picked it up and have been hooked ever since. I see myself in the characters, more so than I would ever see myself in a mystery or thriller, I would never be in a situation most of them are in, I am not one to take chances or that much adventure. I am a person though that is clumsy, a bit goofy, guarded with my heart, and yes, a bit of a shopaholic  Rebecca Bloomwood and I have LOADS in common. Remember that time she was in New York and took that tour of Fifth Ave? 

…It’s Saks Fifth Ave. Right there, across the street. One of the most famous department stores in the world…. ‘ This is one of New York's most famous landmarks ‘ he says with a gesture ‘ Many New Yorkers regularly visit the magnificent place of worship once a week or even more often. Some even make it here daily. We don’t have time to do more than a quick look inside…..’

’Shall we go in? ‘ says Christop at last

‘Absolutely! ‘ I say joyfully and hurry across the street toward the entrance. It is only as my hand is actually on the door that I realize no one else is with me. Where have they all gone? Puzzled I look back and the rest of the group is processing into a big stone church….

Oh.

Oh, I see. When he said ‘magnificent place of worship’ he meant….

Laughing out loud and having to read it to my husband, he asked if Sophie Kinsella had ever met me.

I get excited every month for the new ones to hit the bookstores, with their candy-colored covers and realness of the characters ( for the most part ) so here are 8 upcoming Rom-Coms I am looking forward to over the next few months.

Release date February 2

Run Away to England with Evangeline Starling to a quaint village that includes a temporary job at Much Ado About Books, the bookshop underneath her holiday let where she meets local farmer Roane Robson. But does she risk a holiday romance that has the potential of breaking her heart?

Released February 9

Can unlucky in love Penny Bridge actually find love?  Penny suddenly has plenty of romance in her life when a man comes her way, and then another one, and another one. Will she learn to trust and love again, and which of these remarkable men, if any will she fall for?

Released March 9

We were introduced to the  Brown sister ins Hibbert's book Get A Life Chloe Browm, and she is back with book three of the Friends book series and this one is all about flighty sister Eve as she descends on Jacob Wayne and his Bed and Breakfast, turning his world upside down.

FLOAT PLAN by Trish Doller

Released March 2

Heartbroken after the loss of her fiancé to suicide, Anna takes a cruise in the sailboat he left her, one they were supposed to take together. She hires sailor Keane to operate the boat after a rough stormy night. This romance, though does have funny moments is more about finding love after a loss and starting over. This is Doller’s debut adult book.

Released April 6

From the author of The Happily Ever After Playlist, Vanessa Price quits her job so she can live her life. After neither her mother nor sister made it to the age of 30, she no longer wants to take it for granted. She finds herself somehow in charge of a baby and living next door to hot lawyer Adrian Copeland. Too bad, she has taken a vow not to get involved.

PEOPLE WE MEET ON VACATION by Emily Henry

Released  May 11

Beach Read’s Emily Henry is back with a new book titled People We Meet on Vacation. Long time best friends until a falling out during one of their yearly vacations together ruins their friendship, Poppy missed what she once shared with Alex and is determined to get their friendship and hopefully more rekindled when she asks him to take one more vacation together.

Released June 1

The author who gave us Red White and Royal Blue ( who didn’t love this romance? ) is back with her second book One Last Stop. The book is a bit of a spa on Kate and Leopold that is the story of August who doesn’t believe in once in a lifetime love but falls for Jane her subway crush who is stuck in time from the 70s. Sounds perfectly magical and sexy.

IT HAPPENED ONE SUMMER by Tessa Bailey

Released July 13

Rich Hollywood It girl Piper is cut off from her money, finding herself stuck in a small Northwest beach town. There she meets Brandon, a gruff but sexy sea captain who doesn’t think she belongs in the town of Westport or that she can last a week away from the bright lights and luxury of LA. Will she stay or will she go?

Our Italian Summer is a new family drama by author Jennifer Probst which follows three generations of the Ferrari women on a vacation to Italy. We meet Sophia, who is mother and grandmother, she has booked the trip hoping to mend the strained relationship between her daughter Francesa, who is a workaholic, and her granddaughter Allegra who is a bit of a wild child and needs her mother's attention.

I had no problem connecting with any of the characters, however, it did take me a bit to warm up to Francesca, she seemed only concerned with her work and herself, however as the book moved forward I enjoyed watching her grow and transform as they all developed a better understanding of each other and what matters to them as both a family and to themselves.

The book was written from each of the viewpoints of the characters and I loved getting the different perspectives from them. The author Jennifer Probst was excellent at descriptive writing, I have never read one of her books so do not know if this is a regular thing from her, but imagine how she excelled at it, it most likely is. Having the story take place in Italy gave her much to describe also, from the scenery which put you right in the places she described, to the food..oh the food, it made your mouth water at times. Throughout the entire book, you felt that you were right there with the three women.

Imagine wanting to get home so badly that you are willing to do almost anything to get there.  This is the decision that high school student Mia makes as she realizes she is stranded in the Philly airport. All planes have been grounded due to an approaching blizzard and she will not make it home to spend Christmas with her mother who needs her.

Coming home from San Diego, where she lives with her father and attends a prestigious art high school, she is stuck in Philly. On the plane, she set next to college school Harper and they hit it off, Harper also not wanting to be stuck in the airport rents the last SUV in the rental stall and invites Mia to ride with her and her three friends, they will drop Mia off where she needs to go and all will be well. What can go wrong right?

Mia agrees to the ride, even though her gut feeling is screaming not to. As the trip takes off and they travel further along the road, they take an unexpected route through the mountains to avoid the storm, instead, they run straight into it. Not only are the roads icy and treacherous, but strange things start happening in the car, things are missing, and no one is confessing to the crimes. Mia learns that none of the passengers in the car knew each other as she thought, and each one of them seems to be hiding something and are a bit shady.

Five Total Strangers has more twists and turns in it than the icy roads that the car is traveling. You are pulled in with the suspense and it holds you there as you try to figure out what is happening. It is a quick read, you won’t want to put it down, you want to continue reading so you can get to the end. 

Zoe has a job many people would consider perfect, she is an editor of reSound, a music publication. She spends her time hanging around concerts and interviewing musicians, but the magazine is in a slump and she needs to find something to revive the magazine and up the readership, or she and the rest of her crew will lose their jobs.

Goodreads Summary: 

From the dramatic redbrick facade to the sweeping staircase dripping with art, the Chelsea Hotel has long been New York City's creative oasis for the many artists, writers, musicians, actors, filmmakers, and poets who have called it home—a scene playwright Hazel Riley and actress Maxine Mead are determined to use to their advantage. Yet they soon discover that the greatest obstacle to putting up a show on Broadway has nothing to do with their art, and everything to do with politics. A Red scare is sweeping across America, and Senator Joseph McCarthy has started a witch hunt for Communists, with those in the entertainment industry in the crosshairs. As the pressure builds to name names, it is more than Hazel and Maxine's Broadway dreams that may suffer as they grapple with the terrible consequences, but also their livelihood, their friendship, and even their freedom.

Spanning from the 1940s to the 1960s, The Chelsea Girls deftly pulls back the curtain on the desperate political pressures of McCarthyism, the complicated bonds of female friendship, and the siren call of the uninhibited Chelsea Hotel. 

Tee's Review:

I have always been fascinated with the Chelsea Hotel, there is so much history there from musicians and poets who lived there to the death of Nancy Spungen supposedly by her boyfriend Sid Vicious.

The new book Chelsea Girls by Fiona Davis deals with the iconic hotel in the ’50s when Maxine Mead, an actress, and Hazel Riley, a playwright meet up again at the hotel. They had met on a USO tour during WWII. McCarthyism was at its height in the entertainment industry during the ’50s and it finds its way into Fiona and Maxine’s life.

I loved the characters in Chelsea Girls, Maxine and Hazel are both authentic and relatable as were most of the characters in the story. The glamour of New York and the theater is written beautifully, as well as the entirety of the hotel, which seems like just another character in the story.

This historical novel makes me wish even more, that I could have experienced the iconic Chelsea in its prime, but it also gave me a glimpse into a period of history I know very little about. Chelsea Hotel is a must-read if you like historical novels or New York.

Goodreads Summary:

t's the first Christmas in Santaland for April Claus--but it may also be her last unless she can uncover a villain with a killer Christmas wish. . .

Love is full of surprises--though few compare to realizing that you're marrying the real-life Santa. April Claus dearly loves her new husband, Nick, but adjusting to life in the North Pole is not all sugarplums and candy canes. Especially when a cantankerous elf named Giblet Hollyberry is killed--felled by a black widow spider in his stocking--shortly after publicly arguing with Nick.

Christmastown is hardly a hotbed of crime, aside from mishaps caused by too much eggnog, but April disagrees with Constable Crinkle's verdict of accidental death. As April sets out to find the culprit, it'll mean putting the future of Christmas on the line--and hoping her own name isn't on a lethal naughty list 

Tee's Review

For all those that thought Santa wasn’t real…think again. He is alive and well, living in Christmastown in a big castle with his family and his new wife April.  April and Nick, that is the present Santa’s name, have been married for three months, and she is still getting used to her role and duties as Mrs. Claus when the unthinkable happens. 

Murder… 

Someone has murdered one of Santa’s elves. Yes, there are elves in this book, it is about Santa, so you’d expect a few elves right? There are also talking reindeer, some who are still playing games, and moving talking snowmen, some hundreds of years old, because it never gets above freezing in Christmasland.

To everyone's horror, an old snowman is also murdered. How do you murder a snowman you ask? Well….use your imagination.  And who do you think Jake Frost, no not Jack, but Jake, Jack is a distant relation, the detective is thinking murdered the two? Santa himself. So April sets out on her own mission to clear her husband's name.

Mrs. Claus and The Santaland Slayings is cute, quirky, and fun. The world-building was great, I felt like I was walking through the board game Candyland on a snowy day, the description was colorful and festive, and yep cold, it is the North Pole after all. There were a lot of characters, and sometimes that seemed to slow me down, trying to figure out which elf was which with their names like Jingles, Juniper, etc… but for the most part, the story was a fast easy read. 

The mystery is well thought out, and has several twists and turns as April questions the people of Christmastown, and gets some of their darkest secrets out in the open. Yep. Even Christmastown seems to have a dark side. The characters range from grieving widows to clumsy reindeer and they all have entertaining factors to them. 

If you are looking for a Christmas book with a bit of fantasy and some murder thrown in, who would have thought you could have all three in one book, then grab your cocoa or eggnog, pull a warm fuzzy blanket around you, and open Mrs. Claus and The Santaland Slayings, it brings on the Christmas magic in a new magical murderous way.

SYNOPSIS

After divorce shatters her family, one woman's struggle to pick up the pieces finally leads to a new beginning--but is the past truly behind her? #1 New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber explores the powerful intersections of love and family in this poignant novel.

It's been nearly six years since Julia Jones had her heart broken. After her husband became involved with another woman, she did everything she could to save their marriage, to no avail. Their two daughters continue to stand by Julia in the wake of their father's behavior--and they've had a tough time getting along with the "other woman" who became their stepmother. Distraught after selling the family home, Julia moved into a condominium complex that offers the warmth and charm of a fresh start. Now, having settled into her new community and sold her successful interior design business, she's embraced a fulfilling new life, one that doesn't seem to need a man in it. Her beloved father's trusty saying is ringing truer than ever: It's better this way.

But when Julia meets a handsome new resident in the building's exercise room, she can't help but be drawn to him. Heath Johnson is a welcome change from the men she's encountered on the occasional--mostly disastrous--dates her sister has eagerly planned for her over the years. As she and Heath, a divorcé himself, begin to grow close, their friendship blossoms into a love neither of them had expected. However, they soon realize that combining families, even with four adult children, presents inevitable challenges.

When a dramatic revelation threatens the happiness they've found, Julia and Heath must reconcile their love for their children with their love for each other. If they can't, their bright future together may be nothing but a dream.

Julie who is a Pathologist living in Arizona has been friends with Gavin, a pro football player in Texas since they were kids, their parents are best friends and they have spent holidays and vacations together.  When the two go home to Colorado for the holidays their parents take this time to finally get the two together.

Gavin has never been eager to jump into a relationship with Julie, afraid it will ruin the close friendship they already have, to him it is not worth losing. Julie needs to prove to herself she is not boring so she has Gavin fix her up with a friend, but when Gavin sets up the date for Julie, he realizes that maybe his feelings go a bit deeper than just friendship.

The book is a quick read, the family is funny as they try ways to navigate  Gavin and Julie toward a relationship other than friendship.  Julie and Gavin are both very likable, and you do find yourself rooting for them. They have great chemistry between them in whatever situation they are in. The relationship is not a hurried one, it builds gradually, but there were times I had an issue with that, I wanted them together sooner! There is also plenty of steaminess in the book, but nothing that verges toward vulgar.

If you are a fan of sports romances, or Christmas movies and reads,  you will enjoy The Mistletoe Trap, it is a fun romance with just the right amount of hotness!